By Brooke Shelby Biggs
We nonfiction nerds who are compulsive documentary watchers are usually also public radio listeners and magazine readers. Who among us doesn’t have a closet full of tote bags attesting to this?
And, if you’re like me, all of this means we’re suckers for podcasts. Since the moment I first discovered Radiolab in 2009, I’ve been addicted. Road trips, long commutes, those early hours at work before the meetings start — these are my podcast sweet zones. So many styles and subjects and perspectives to choose from.
Bonus: No driveway moments necessary, because my earbuds go with me wherever I go. Downside: I’ve been known to stay up until 2 a.m. on a school night to find out what happened in a podcast (I’m looking at you, S-Town).
Radiolab’s Jad Abumrad recently produced a magnificent companion podcast series — called UnErased — to accompany the new Nicole Kidman film Boy Erased. Unlike film, podcasts demand both more and less of the audience — more work in constructing the visual elements in their mind’s eyes, but less captivity to a screen.
What follows is an unscientific and entirely biased list of the best nonfiction/documentary podcasts available on common podcast apps.
1. Radiolab — Skewing toward science-centric stories, this podcast uses inventive audio techniques for its philosophical deep-dives into the mysteries of the universe. Cohost Robert Krulwich’s childlike awe and curiosity will hook you.
• Best Episode: “Parasites“
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQGjCEsIwGc
2. Reveal — A meaty offering from the Center for Investigative Reporting, Reveal dives into the human stories behind the headlines, and often covers stories no one else is. They won a duPont for the episode linked below.
• Best episode: “Inside a Rehab Empire“
3. The Daily — This weekday podcast hosted by Michael Barbaro takes about 20 minutes with a story in that day’s New York Times, interviewing reporters and subjects. A great way of getting the implications of breaking news on your morning commute.
• Best Episode: “The Business of Selling Your Location“
4. This American Life — The granddaddy of them all from WBEZ, this one created the form that in the 1990s critics dubbed “radio vérité.”
• Best Episode: “The Problem We All Live With“
5. More Perfect — A Radiolab spinoff, this podcast is all about the Supreme Court, its major decisions, and how it came to be the divided and unpredictable force it is now.
• Best Episode: “The Gun Show“
6. Hidden Brain — A neuroscience eargasm. Hosted by Shankar Vedantam, the podcast explores human behavior through the social sciences.
• Best episode: “Switchtracking,” about the way people change the subject after getting feedback.
7. Nancy — A big, gay podcast! Tobin Low and Kathy Tu bring a very personal frame to the realities of queer life today, including intersections with race, religion, ethnicity, culture, and media.
• Best Episode: Try the first, “Hello, Hello“
8. Code Switch — A weekly deep dive into race and ethnicity in the age of Black Lives Matter. It is a must-listen for anyone who wants to get past the headlines into a deeper understanding of racism, its history, and its permutations in the Trump Era.
• Best Episode: “Charlottesville“
9. Death, Sex & Money — Hosted by Anna Sale (who could read the IHOP menu and make it sound dreamy), the show delves into stories related to the three taboo topics in its name, in a highly personal and personable way with audience participation emphasized.
• Best Episode: “The Sex Worker Next Door“
10. Reply All — A not-at-all-geeky podcast about the fascinations and frustrations of technology in our everyday lives. The “Yes Yes No” segment, in which the hosts discuss something they didn’t understand (a meme, a tweet, a news story) on the internet that week, makes for highly entertaining public service journalism.
• Best Episode: “Is Facebook Spying on You?“
Now it’s your turn. What are your favorite podcasts or favorite episodes and why?
Brooke Shelby Biggs is a San Francisco-based writer and journalist.